Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Population: 30 Million

Capital:  Kabul

Language: There are two official languages in Afghanistan: Pashto and Dari
Phrases: Salaam (hello) makha de khah (goodbye)

Currency: Afghani

Climate: Most of the country has a subarctic mountain climate with dry and cold winters.  In the lowland it is more arid and semiarid.  In the mountains bordering Pakistan there is the monsoon effect which brings moist maritime tropical air in the summer.  There are clearly defined seasons, hot summers (as hot as 120 F) and cold winters (as low as 15 F).

Religion: 99% muslin.  The other 1% is made up of Christian, Parsi, Buddhist, Sikhs, and Hindu.  Religion plays a large part in the Afghan culture.  They pray five times a day -dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening.   During the holy month of Ramadan all Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and only work 6 hours a day.  Foreigners are not required to fast but cannot eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public.

Sports: Afghanistan has a national football (soccer) team ranked 179 in the world, but has never qualified to a world cup.  Cricket is also very popular in Afghanistan.

Famous people: Fahim Fazli, a refugee from Kabul, had roles in Iron Man, Argo, and Eagle Eye.  Marina Golbahari stared in “Osama”.  Was discovered begging for food in Kabul, used her money to buy parents a home in Kabul.  There are other Afghans who are actors, directors, poets and so on, but none are very well known in the US.

Flag:

Facts:
*The new year called Nawroz, is celebrated on March 21st, the first day of spring
*Poetry is a big part of Afghans' culture and has been for centuries
*Agriculture is Afghanistan's main source of income.
*Afghanistan is rich in natural resources, the main being natural gas and oil
*The weekend in Afghanistan is Thursday and Friday since Friday is considered the Holy day.
*Afghanistan is known for its rug making skills.  There is a distinct pattern in the rugs that make them unique to Afghanistan.
*Afghanistan as very strict etiquette rules when it comes to gift giving and dining.

Culture: The Afghan carpet is a type of rug Afghanistan is known for.  It has a district pattern that makes it unique to Afghanistan.   Family is very important in the Afghan culture and men and women's roles are very defined.  Most families live together in the same walled compound known as the kala.  Honor is very important in the Afghan culture and the head male of the family is responsible for protecting the honor of the family.  If honor is compromised that person is shamed.  If honor is shamed it can lead to violence and has been the cause of much disharmony in the country.  When meeting someone they shake hands or put their hand on their hearts and nod slightly.  Handshaking is not permitted between men and women, neither is eye contact or speaking directly to one another. If  man speaks to a women in public it dishonors her.  In the work setting men and women can be co-workers but are cautious to maintain each other's honor.  Men and women should never be alone in a room together unless the door is left open and should never touch.  Foreigners are expected to live by these rules as well.

Clothing: clothing plays a large part in the Afghan culture.  Women must always dress properly to avoid unwanted attention.  The should wear loose fitting pants under their skirts and be sure the definition of their legs are indistinguishable.  They should also wear headscarves in public.  Most men wear long shirts and trousers

Activity

We started our research with Afghanistan because it is the first country alphabetically in the world list of countries.  After learning about this unique culture, trying to memorize the different head wraps men wear according to social status, style and taste, and discovering many assumptions we had about the culture were actually not true, we wanted to sample some authentic Afghan food.  We exhausted our internet resources and only came up with a few Middle Eastern marketplaces in the area; one had a restaurant located inside, it didn't promise Afghan food, but it was the closet we could get.  We ventured out to 21^st South and Redwood road to find the Shahrazad Market and Restaurant.

Sitting outside the market I will admit I had my reservations.  It did not look inviting; in fact I honestly felt fear about what I would find on the inside of the brown exterior walls.  Even after learning about the country in our mini history session the word “terrorist” was floating in my head, it was the thing I automatically associated with the Middle East.  The Arabic writing on the outside of the building brought the Arabic culture closer to home, who or what would I find on the inside of that building?   After a small hesitation we took our kids and walked inside.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked around to see a quaint little market with aisles similar to what I would find in any given gas station and there was even a smiling face behind the cash register.  The young woman was wearing a Hijab, something I had recently learned about, but did not seem imitating at all.  She barely noticed we were there, which was totally different then the stares I expected would great us upon entering the store.  I thought we would stick out and people would wonder what we were doing there, but no one seemed to even notice we had come in.

We walked to the back of the market to view a menu from the restaurant.  My eyes grew wide as I viewed the prices and knew it was not within our budget.  We decided instead to walk around the market and pick items made in Afghanistan to bring home and make our own Afghan food.  After searching for almost 30 minutes we discovered most of the items were from India or Turkey.   We decided to step outside our comfort zone and asked the woman at the cash register where we could find authentic Afghan food, but she did not know.  We did end up buying some things we had learned were commonly eaten in Afghanistan, but for me I knew the experience of coming to the market was far more important than the things we bought.

 We left the market with our small purchases, happy.  We were proud of ourselves for overcoming our initial hesitations and stepping out of our comfort zone.  I also learned a valuable lesson.  I discovered that just because a culture has been talked about in a negative way for many years in the United States does not mean everyone from that culture is scary or a terrorist.  I’ll be honest; I do not have many friends or know a lot of people from the Middle East.  I know someone from Armenia, a family member dated someone from Turkey, but that was my extent with the Middle East.  An issue much closer to home is when we've had family members serve in the military in Afghanistan.  That was scary and we lived in fear for a long time that something bad would happen to them.  This is a much more common experience with the Middle East and unfortunately I think for too many Americans the words fear, terror and even evil are synonymous with Afghanistan because of it.

 I gained a totally different view of the culture just by this one experience.  The people were kind and genuinely nice.  I do regret not stepping even further out of my comfort zone and interact more with the people I met.  I should have asked the young woman in the Hijab where she was from, what brought her to Utah, what she misses about her country, what challenges she has faced here and if she knew of any activities going on in the area that we could participate in.   I will definitely learn from this first experience to challenge myself more and really interact with others that are different then myself with the future countries we will learn about.